Olympics 2024 (and 2028): Paris vs. Los Angeles

The race between Paris and Los Angeles to host the 2024 Summer Olympics may be heading for a compromise. Here’s what we know.

What’s happening Friday? The International Olympic Committee board is meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it is expected to announce that it will simultaneously award both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games, rather than only the first one. The presumption is that one Olympics will go to Paris and the other to Los Angeles.

Does this happen often? No. The cycle of the awarding each Games is well established, with one winner at the end. There have been close losers with good credentials before, like Madrid for 2016, Paris for 2012 and Rome for 2004, but they were not awarded subsequent Games as a consolation prize.

What about cities that had been targeting 2028? Although the process for those Games had not formally started, many cities had at least expressed interest. But with the increasing realization around the world that the Olympics can be a money-losing proposition, there was a chance that the final roster of candidates would shrink. Awarding both Games now, to cities eager to hold them and capable of doing so, avoids that problem for a while.

Oh, and Boston, the United States’ original official candidate city, withdrew its bid in 2015, leading Los Angeles to become a late replacement.

How do the two candidate cities stack up? Paris has missed out on the Olympics several times, most recently to London for 2012. But confidence is high this time around. Roland Garros would stage tennis and boxing, and there would be beach volleyball on the Champ-de-Mars by the Eiffel Tower, and equestrian events at Versailles.

Los Angeles, which staged a highly successful Games in 1984, has embraced its bid, and can offer a nearly complete set of stadiums already in place. The Coliseum (built for the 1932 Los Angeles Games), Dodger Stadium, the Staples Center, the Rose Bowl and other well-known venues could be involved.

What do the oddsmakers say? Paris is now a 1-3 favorite to win the 2024 Games, about a 75 percent chance. Los Angeles is at 3-1.

Why is Paris the favorite? Members of the I.O.C. vote for the winning candidate, and their motivations are often murky. But among the reasons Paris is the favorite: a recognition of the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Paris Games, its near misses in the recent past, sympathy because of the recent terrorist attacks, and the international unpopularity of President Trump.

When is the final decision to award host cities? September, at a previously scheduled I.O.C. meeting in Lima, Peru.

Is being pushed to 2028 O.K. with the Los Angeles bid team? Both cities had insisted that 2024 was the only Olympics they were interested in. But in a statement on Wednesday, Casey Wasserman, the chairman of Los Angeles’s bid, seemed to open the door to taking the later Games.

“To be blunt, L.A. 2024 has never been only about L.A. or 2024,” he wrote. “Even when the issue of a dual award for the 2024 and 2028 Games was initially raised, we didn’t say it’s ‘L.A. first’ or it’s ‘now or never’ for L.A.: That sounds like an ultimatum. We could have used that strategy, but we didn’t because we thought it was presumptuous to tell the I.O.C. what to do and how to think. We’re better partners than that.”

What about other Olympics? The 2020 Summer Games will be held in Tokyo. The Winter Games are set for Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018 and Beijing in 2022.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B9 of the New York edition with the headline: What to Know About the Awarding of the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe